A big thank you to Sarah Faxon for another fun pair of Flash Fiction Friday prompts. Also, a huge wish for good luck on her novel submission. It’s time the publishing world take notice of her talent.
As usual, I utilized both of her prompts:
Your character realizes that they can control time.
Your character is lost or lost something in the woods.
BE KIND, REWIND
This is a nightmare, but not a dream.
Hike the Appalachian trail they said. Find yourself by losing yourself they said. But do you know who else likes to hike lonesome, wooded trails? God damn serial killers, that’s who.
All this plays on repeat in my mind as I crash headlong down a thin game path, way too far from the established, National Park administered trail. My oversized, overpriced REI backpack snags on every damn low-hanging branch and thorn bush. Timberland boots, great for hip-hop cred, suck at escaping deranged killers and threaten to snag every exposed root.
Son of a bitch! He’s right behind me. I can hear his huffing and puffing, smell his feral stink.
Shit! My shoelace (why are they so damn long) unravels and loops a half-hitch around a tree-fall and I go down hard—again!
Flipping over like a tortoise, I see him descending on me wearing that ridiculous Trump mask, Bass Pro Shop camouflaged machete in one hand, and rhinestone Michael Jackson glove on the other. The blade slices downward as I raise my arm to ward off the blow.
“Stop! Rewind!” I shout.
I’m back at the waterfall.
Holy crap. It worked again. I haven’t been able to do this since I was eight-years-old, running from that horror show of a foster home. I don’t know what possessed me to try back then. Maybe a lonely kid develops magical powers when they’re always afraid and alone.
And somehow, the magic has returned, just when I needed it. Two times. However, I never had to use it a third time. As the saying goes, the third time’s a charm. When it comes to desperate magic, does the third time break the charm.
I guess it’s time to find out. That orange-faced bastard just crashed out of the underbrush again. Slinging off my backpack, I tie my loose shoelace in a knot. And I run like the god damned wind.
Great little story! You did well with those prompts. Amazing.
This was a super fun read! I wouldn’t mind seeing this expanded into a series of micro fictions or a novel.